Shades of Gray and Pink
by Ali-Chan1
Summary: Anna comes back to Newport pregnant and she and Ryan begin to connect in ways neither of them expected.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

* * *

A.N. I know so the last thing I need to be doing is starting another story, between Stand Beside Me and the story I am co-writing with Emo Starlette, Title and Registration the last thing I need is to start another story...but I have...review! Please, reviews always put stories higher up on my priority list!

* * *

"Ryan?"

"Anna?" The voice on the other end of the phone was one Ryan hadn't heard in almost a year.

"Thank God," Anna breathes into the phone. "I thought maybe you'd be Seth and I wouldn't know what to say..."

"Anna what's..."

"Going on?" Anna supplies. "I know it's weird for me to just call you out of nowhere, but I had a favor to ask."

"Okay..." Ryan trails, "what is it?"

"I'm at the airport, do you think you can pick me up?"

"You're in California?"

"Yeah, and it's kind of an impromptu visit and my parents can't come get me So do you think..."

"Sure," Ryan responds quickly. "And you're at the airport now?"

"Yeah."

"I'll get there as soon as I can. I'll have to explain..."

"Ryan, if it's possible...do you think you could not tell Seth I'm here yet? I just kind of what to get settled before I started announcing my presence to everyone."

"Sure. I'll see you in awhile."

* * *

"Anna?" Ryan cautiously approaches a short haired blonde with her back towards him.

She turns in her seat to face him, everything about her was exactly the same. From her short blonde hair pinned back with a cute flower clip, her dark eyes were sadder but still showed traces of the bright smile that transformed her entire face. She wore a bright yellow shirt that did little to hide...Ryan's eyes go wide, "you're..."

Anna's smile lessens as she stands and places one of her hands on her slightly swollen stomach, "I was going to try to tell you on the phone...but I didn't know how..."

"It's good to see you," Ryan states, not wanting to make her anymore uncomfortable than she already is.

"It's good to see you," Anna hugs Ryan tightly. "And thanks for picking me up."

"Of course," Ryan glances at the bags littered around Anna's feet. "You've got a lot of bags for someone who is just visiting."

Anna shoots Ryan a guilty look, "I..."

"How about you explain once you get settled in and you're ready?" Ryan suggests and earns an appreciative glance from Anna.

"So," Anna questions once they have loaded her bags into the Range Rover and both are seated, "how's Seth?"

"Completely insane."

"So he hasn't changed then," Anna laughs. "So he and Summer are going on, what, a year or something?"

"No," Ryan shakes his head as he pays the parking attendant. "They broke up in May."

"Huh," Anna states, "kinda saw them going on for awhile. What happened?"

"There were like two months in-between when you left and when they broke up, how many of the details do you want?"

Anna laughs lightly, "how about the headlines? And I'll ask for the details as I think I need them."

"Theresa got pregnant. I moved back to Chino. Seth took off for the summer."

Anna stares Ryan, "all of that happened in two months?"

"No," Ryan shakes his head. "Julie Cooper also slept with Luke and married Caleb Nichol."

"You know," Anna arches an eyebrow, "normal places like Pittsburgh don't have this much drama. So do you care to explain, in detail, the first three things?"

* * *

Ryan had finished caching Anna up with the readers digest version of everything that Anna had missed while she'd been in Pittsburgh, and when he gets to the part up Theresa losing the baby a sad expression crosses her face and she wraps her arms around her stomach. "I'm so sorry Ryan. I'm not even that far along and I, I don't even know what I would do if that happened."

Ryan offers Anna a sad smile, "I think it was for the best."

"So," Anna changes the subject, "Marissa is dating Seth's ex-girlfriend. Summer is dating someone else, but Seth is still in love with her, no change there. But what about you?"

"I was dating Kirsten's sister."

Anna crinkles her nose, "you were dating Hailey?"

"No!" Ryan shakes his head quickly, "back around Chrismukkah we found out that my girlfriend was Kirsten's half-sister."

Anna doesn't attempt to hide the giggle that bursts forth, "some part of me has missed Newport. So she's nice?"

Ryan nods, "you'd like her. She wasn't raised in Newport so she's not like the rest of the girls at Harbor. She's, I don't know, normal."

"Sounds like someone perfect for you," Anna grins.

"She'd be more perfect if she wasn't Caleb Nichol's daughter, we broke up because Caleb couldn't handle our dating." No more is said on the subject, they'd reached the Stern's house and Ryan started grabbing backs out of the back of the Range Rover.

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" Anna questions, "my parents are out of town but I'm sure they left food and stuff in the fridge."

Ryan nods, curious to know exactly what was going on with Anna, "a drink would be great."

"So we focused on catching you up on Newport news, how was Pittsburgh?" Ryan asks once Anna sets a coke in front of him.

Anna takes a couple sips of her soda before responding, "it was completely different. But nothing had changed. That makes no sense, I know but..."

"It makes sense to me," Ryan responds. "That's how Chino was when I was back over the summer."

Anna nods and sighs, picking at her bread, "I'm not going back to Pittsburgh."

Ryan nods, "I kind of figured."

"The couldn't stand the thought of having to tell their friends that their teenage niece got pregnant while she was living with them."

"That sucks."

Anna looks sad but shrugs, "I didn't want to be in Pittsburgh, anyway."

"Anna if..." Ryan is cut off by the sound of his cell phone ringing in his pocket.

"It's fine," Anna nods, "you can take it."

"It's Seth," Ryan states and Anna nods. "Hey."

"Dude, where are you?"

"With a friend."

"Is this a friend who happens to be related in an aunt-like capacity to both of us?"

"Seth," Ryan sighs.

"Ah, sneaking around with the lovely Lindsay? Getting a little smoochies behind everyone's backs again? Don't worry, man, I won't say a word."

"I'm not with Lindsay, Seth." Ryan rolls his eyes.

"Fine, whatever, deny it. Anyway I've got nothing to do, so you want to head over to the Crab Shack and get something to eat. You can bring your mystery friend with if you want."

"Hang on," Ryan covers the mouth piece of his phone, "Seth wants to go to the Crab Shack for lunch, you up to it?" Anna bites her lip and then nods. "Fine Seth, we'll meet you in 20 minutes."

"Great, I'll call Summer and Zach and see if they want to come too."

"Seth, I thought you were going to stop organizing groups so you could see Summer?"

"See you in twenty."

"Summer and Zach are going to be there too," Ryan informs Anna, "if you want to bail that's cool."

"No, it'll be good to see Summer again." Anna offers a small smile, "I'm going to change quick, do you mind?"

When Anna returns several minutes later in a looser fitting shirt she states, "I'm just not ready to talk about it, and between Summer and Seth..."

Ryan nods, "ready to see them?"

Anna takes a deep breath, "yeah, I think so."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

* * *

"Look who I found," Ryan announces when he and Anna walk into the Crab Shack.

"Rose!" Summer jumps to her feet and hugs Anna.

"Anna, hey," Seth hugs Anna as well, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm moving back."

"Moving back? But what about Pittsburgh? And Peanut butter cup pies, and Swifty, and the seasons?"

Anna shrugs, "I missed you guys."

"You moved back because you missed us?" Summer asks.

"Well, I did miss you guys but that's not why I moved back, the situation at my aunt and uncles changed. So I had to move back in with my parents."

"I'm so glad you're back!" Summer exclaims giving Anna one last hugs as they slide back into their seats. "Oh, this is my boyfriend Zach, Zach this is Anna."

"Nice to meet you," Zach greets and then asks, "but I thought you called her Rose?"

"I did," Summer nods without explaining. "So are you going to Harbor with us then?

Anna shakes her head, "no, since it's halfway through the semester I'm going to do independent study until the end of the school year. I'll start back at Harbor next year."

"You should come, you went back to Pittsburgh in th e middle of a semester."

"Dr. Kim wouldn't let me back in for the remaining part of the year, she said I could come back in the fall though."

"That sucks," Summer responds, "but we'll still hang out. It's not like our lives revolved around school."

"Well," Seth interrupts, "ours don't, Ryan, on the other hand, has turned into a bigger geek than I ever was."

"Hey," Ryan protests.

"Dude, it's totally true, all you do is study anymore. You haven't punched somebody in, like, months."

"Hey guys," Marissa appears beside the table with Alex.

"Oh, hey, look, it's Alex and Marissa. They're dating, but we're all totally cool with it."

Anna nods and suppresses a smile, "clearly."

"Anna, you're back?"

"I'm back."

"And you're pregnant."

"You're what?" Seth exclaims.

"Wait, what?" Summer stares between Marissa and Anna.

Anna's face turns a bright pink and Marissa looks equally embarrassed, "sorry I figured everyone knew."

"How-how'd you know?"

"You have that look, like Charisma Carpenter did on Angel right before we found out Cordelia was pregnant." Everyone stares at Marissa, momentarily taking the attention off of Anna, "what? I've been watching Angel with Alex."

"You're pregnant?" Summer's stare turns solely on Anna.

Anna nods, "I wasn't going to tell everyone just yet."

"Sorry," Marissa apologies again.

"It's okay," Anna smiles weakly. "It's not that I didn't want everyone to know, I just suck at actually telling people."

"Are you keeping it?"

"When are you due?"

"Who's the father?"

Marissa, Summer and Seth's questions respectively are one's that Anna expected when she thought about telling her friends in California she was pregnant and she answers them gracefully. "Yes, I'm keeping the baby. I'm due at the end of July. And the father is not involved in anyway. I know it's weird," Anna admits, "all if it. But is it possible to just keep things normal between all of us?"

The entire table laughs and Alex speaks for the first time, "hi, you must be new. It's impossible for anything to be normal around here."

Anna laughs too, "well I meant...well you know what I meant..."

"We know what you meant," Summer agrees. "Oh my God you'll never believe..."

* * *

"So," Ryan glances at Anna sitting in the seat next to him after their meal at the Crab Shack, "that didn't go horribly."

Anna smiles, "it was great. It's nice being able to fit so easily back into a group."

"Sorry about Marissa though, but she's still Marissa not the best with the thought process."

Anna shrugs, "I'm glad she blurted it out. I suck at telling people, my aunt found the pregnancy test and my aunt and uncle called my parents. Telling Damien, well it sucked so I guess that might have something to do with my nervousness." Anna's outburst is followed by silence that Ryan doesn't dare break. Finally though, Anna breaks it with a topic change, "are you really taking physics?"

Ryan nods, "yes, unfortunately."

"Good, I've got to take it in this home study program, you wouldn't mind help, right?" Anna offers Ryan a pleading smile.

"Sure, not a problem." Ryan laughs lightly, "whoever thought that you'd be coming to me for homework help."

Anna laughs too, "so you're really doing this school boy thing?"

"Yeah, the councilor cornered me on the first day of school and got me to take all of these AP classes. So, you'll be joining us at Harbor next year then? Kim'll let you back in?"

The smile leaves Anna's face right away and Ryan immediately feels guilty for asking the question, "she said I can come back next year. But..."

"You don't have to go into details," Ryan interrupts, "really. You don't owe me anything."

"No," Anna shakes her head, "I don't mind telling you. Basically Dr. Kim would prefer it if I didn't come back to school with a baby next year."

"She said that?" Ryan asks, stunned.

"Well she didn't come out and say it, but that was the point. She and my parents are pretty much in an agreement, they think I'm doing the right thing in having the baby, but they also think that I should give him or her up for adoption." Anna doesn't make eye contact after this statement, "my parents tell me its my choice, and Dr. Kim can't keep me out of school because I have a baby. In the end it's up to me to choose."

"Do you know what you're going to choose?"

"No," Anna whispers. "But, hey I have four months to figure it out."

"Anna, if you need anything..."

"I know, thanks Ryan, I really appreciate it, and at some point I'm sure I'll need your help with something."

And she did, the call came two nights later while Ryan was in the middle of finishing homework for school the next day. "Hello?"

"Ryan?"

Anna's voice on the other line still threw Ryan off, "hey Anna, what's up?"

"Remember that thing you were saying about if I need anything."

"Of course, is something wrong?"

"No, no," Anna quickly assures, "I just need a favor. Are you busy?

"Just working on some calculus, could definitely use the break. What's up?"

"It's nothing huge or anything, I just need a favor."

"I figured," Ryan responds, "what's up?"

"I'm bored out of my mind here, my parents are still out of town and leaving me without a car, and I'm having a huge double chocolate chip ice cream. So I thought maybe if you could come get me I could treat for some ice cream?"

Ryan rubs his eyes and glances at the mountain of homework he had, if he left now he'd be up all night finishing it but Anna's request was so innocent and held a semi-childlike quality to it he couldn't help respond, "I could do that. Give me about 10 minutes to finish up some of this calc homework and I'll be over."

"Thanks Ryan, you're the best."

* * *

"I'm sorry to just have called, I know you probably have a ton of other things going on. But not getting out to go to school and not having a car to drive is driving me nuts. My parents said they'll get me a car when they get back but they're away for another two weeks so that leaves me car-less until then."

"It's not a problem, really," Ryan assures as they both take a seat with their ice cream cones in the new ice cream shop that had opened just weeks before.

"I never thought I'd be missing school," Anna laughs.

"We'll you're more than welcome to some of my homework," Ryan promises.

Anna grins, "gee, thanks." Anna's tone drops as she states, "I should let you know that everyone in this little shop probably thinks that you're the father of my child."

Ryan looks up to find that most of the people sitting in the booths around then are stealing glances in their direction, "I hadn't even realized."

Anna nods, "I figured you hadn't. Um, I'm about to do something crazy, just go along with it, okay?" Before Ryan can even respond Anna shoves him hard in the chest and loudly exclaims, "I can't believe you!" With her words Anna stalks out of the ice cream shop with her purse and her ice cream cone.

Ryan stares stunned after her for a minute before getting up quickly and following, a blush tinting the tips of his ears, sliding behind the wheel of the ranger he finds Anna doubled over in laughter. "I can't believe you just put on a show for an entire ice cream shop full of people."

"What?" Anna asks between gasps of laughter, "if they feel like they have the right to stare at me then I feel like I have to the right to take advantage of their nosey stupidity."

Ryan just grins and shakes his head and once Anna has stopped laughing he asks, "so lots of staring then?"

"For about a month," Anna nods. "Since I started showing, but I refuse to be ashamed of it. I made a mistake, but I'm not going to hide it what decade are we living in?"

"Good for you," Ryan responds. "That's the way Theresa felt."

Anna offers Ryan a sad smile but it changes quickly and grabbing Ryan's hand and pressing it to her stomach she states, "feel that?"

Ryan attempts to pull his hand away but after a second he stops, "is that the baby?"

Anna nods, "isn't that amazing?"

Ryan nods, "yeah, it really is."

"I guess he got a kick out of our little scene," Anna laughs at her lame pun and Ryan can't help but grin as well.

"So it's a he?" Ryan asks.

Anna shrugs, "I don't know. I don't want to know. I saw a councilor when I was still in Pennsylvania and she said that for a lot of people who give their babies up for adoption it's easier for them not to know the sex of their baby. I don't know if it's true or not and I don't even know if I wan to give the baby up for adoption but..." Anna stops, a tear sliding down her cheek.

Ryan slowly moves his hand away from Anna's stomach and against his better judgement states, "I think you know what you want to do."

Anna sniffs, "yeah? What is it you think I want to do?"

"I think you want to keep the baby, but you're letting everyone around you sway your opinion."

Anna brushes her now completely wet cheeks with the back of her hand, "they all have good points."

"What that you're a teenager and you can't be a parent too?" Ryan asks. "You've said your parents will support what ever decision you make, you have their support, do what you think is right. I can see that you already love this baby and if it's worth anything I think you'd make a great mom."

Anna sniffs again and asks, "when did you become so talkative?"

"Right about when I got so smart," Ryan responds as he starts the car and pulls out of the parking spot.

Anna is quiet until they stop in front of her house, "thanks Ryan."

"Thanks for saving me from my homework."

With her hand on the door Anna stares intently at Ryan, "do you really think I'd be and okay mom?"

"I think you'll be a great mom," Ryan admits honestly. "The fact that you refuse to be ashamed about your baby is just one little bit of proof."

"Thanks Ryan," Anna whispers before slipping out of the car.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

A.N. Hey guys sorry it took so long to update, I suck I know! But I've set up a story rotation system so that I can update more regularly (made possible by living off campus and having to ride the bus on campus to get to my classes). Wanna know how stories get high on the rotation? How many reviews per chapter a story has makes it form a list, the story at the top of the list gets updated, so get reviewing!

* * *

"Ugh!" Anna lets out a frustrated sigh and flings her pencil across the room hitting the door less than a second before Ryan opens it.

"You missed," he comments.

"Sorry, I wasn't aiming for you," Anna suppresses a smile.

"Well, you may be aiming for me when I get out what I've come to ask," Ryan responds with a shrug.

"Oooh, nice confidence builder, coming to me first thing in the morning and promising me that I'll be mad at you by the end of the conversation," Anna laughs dropping the school book she'd been working in and sitting up on her bed. "This sounds like a conversation you should be sitting to ask." She gestures next to her and her bed.

Ryan was getting used to being in Anna's room, they'd been hanging out a lot in the week that she'd been back and Anna tended to stay out of her parents room. A room that Ryan would have been able to pick out as Anna's even if he hadn't known it was her room, it was full of bright colors and smelled like bubblegum. He settles on the bed opposite her before stating, "it's not so much that I think you'll be mad." He shrugs again, "anyway, Kirsten's having this party at the house..." Ryan trails.

"You're asking me to come to Kirsten's party?" Anna clarifies, "such a horror."

"I know they aren't your favorite thing, they aren't mine either," Ryan responds flipping one of the pillows from Anna's bed in his hands and he talks. "But if you don't go then I'm stuck with Zach, Summer and Seth. Which means you'd be submitting me to unnecessary pain."

"Yes, because hanging out with your friends is always a painful experience," Anna teases.

"It is when I have to spend most of the party watching Seth try to impress Summer without, you know, letting her know he's trying to impress her."

Anna giggles, "that sounds like Seth. But what do I get out of it to subject myself to such a horror for your sake?"

Ryan thinks for a minute, for a minute, "how about an entire gallon of double chocolate chip ice cream?"

"Hmm, trying to sway the pregnant girl with the promise of her favorite ice cream, huh?"

"Is it working?"

"Throw in a bottle of chocolate sauce and you've got yourself a deal."

"Great, I'll swing by and pick you up around six?"

Anna nods, "sounds great. Have fun at school."

"Right," Ryan nods, "when you think about me and school just imagine the picture I just paint for you and take away the formal wear."

Anna tosses a pillow at Ryan, "go to school Ryan, you're going to be late. And hey," she adds when he's halfway to her door, "at least no one will throw pencils at you."

* * *

"I'm so glad you're here," Summer hugs Anna as she speaks, "with you at a party it's like the old days."

"I guess so," Anna can't help that her gaze flicks to Zach at this comment and notices that he looks slightly uncomfortable at this moment.

"I love that dress," Summer comments, "you are such a cute pregnant person, some people look horrible pregnant. I mean really when Taylor Donovan was pregnant last year she looked like a cow."

Anna smiles, "thanks," her hands smooth over the pink satin fabric that covers her obviously rounded stomach. The news of her pregnancy had spread like wildfire around Newport and Anna was positive she was the number one topic of the gossip list these days.

"I'm going to grab something to eat," Ryan states, "does anyone want anything?" His eyes settle on Anna as he asks the question.

"I'm fine," Summer responds and Anna just offers a smile and a gentle shake of her head.

As Ryan walks away he laughs to himself as he can hear Summer babbling to Anna about something or the other, until that conversation gets drowned out by another. "Well, you don't really think it could be do you?" One Newpsie asks to an entire group.

"Well, there were the rumors about that Hispanic girl that was here for awhile, that _she_ left pregnant." A second adds.

"And you know," a third Newpsie adds, "he did disappear all summer. Who knows where he was? They say he was home but no one actually has proof of that."

"But so did the other boy," the second responds, her voice high and nasally voice.

"True," the third concedes, "but you don't see Seth catering to her every need do you? Besides Ryan brought her to the party, not Seth, I saw them drive up as I was arriving."

"I just don't think that..." the first speaker with horrendously blonde hair finally notices Ryan listening in. "Ryan we were just..." she stumbles over her words but is saved from having to say anything by the second woman.

:So why don't you just tell us the truth, Ryan? Are you or aren't you the father of Anna Stern's baby?"

"What?" Ryan asks, his eyes narrowing but he voices his voice to remain light, "and deprive you of your gossip for the month?" The women are still scoffing when Ryan finally seeks haven out of hearing. He knows he should laugh it off, how many times before had he laughed off the gossip of stupid Newpsies. But he can't, the thought of Anna being the topic of gossip makes him angry. Because she was Anna and she just didn't deserve that, although Ryan wasn't sure why gossip about Anna bothered him so much when it hadn't before with anyone else.

"Hey, so you and Anna came together." Seth pulls Ryan out of his thoughts.

"Yeah," Ryan responds automatically but at the surprised expression on Seth's face he quickly shakes his head. "Not like that, I picked her up, it's not a date."

"You know you guys are the talk of Newport, right?" Seth asks, "that everyone thinks you're the father of her baby?"

"I wasn't aware of it until about 90 seconds ago."

"Well, you are and have been for most of the week," Seth responds before biting into a cracker.

"Thanks for the heads up," Ryan rolls his eyes.

"Hey don't hate the messenger. Besides you're the one who spends every possible moment at her house, you are going over there before class and you go straight there after school."

"What are you saying Seth?" Ryan asks.

"Me, I'm saying nothing. Just that you're giving them the fuel to add to their gossip loving heart."

"Anna and I aren't like that," Ryan defends, "we're friends. I realize that you don't understand what it's like to be just friends with Anna or Summer, but it is possible if you'd just give it a chance."

"Whatever, man," Seth shakes his head and walks away from Ryan in the direction of the house.

Ryan feels bad for snapping at Seth almost the instant he walks away, but he knows that it's probably better for both of them if he doesn't try to go after him. He hasn't yet made up his mind about what to do when Anna approaches him, "looks like you and Seth had a fun conversation."

"Yeah," Ryan shrugs, "he was just being a little more Seth-like then I can handle tonight."

Anna frowns briefly, "so we made our appearance, right? Fed the gossip wheel?"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ryan apologizes, "I didn't realize all the rumors."

Anna shrugs, "it's no big deal, I'm the one who should be apologizing. But anyway, do you want to run me home? We can hang out, maybe I'll share some of that double chocolate chip ice cream with you."

"Yeah, great," Ryan nods, "let's go."

* * *

Ryan yawns and opens his eyes, his first view is that of old an old Bewitched rerun on the TV in Anna's room. The second thing Ryan realizes is that Anna is laying with her head resting on her shoulder. And the third thing? The thing that makes Ryan panic the fact that when he glances at the clock it's three in the morning. They'd fallen asleep at some point probably three and a half hours ago, the Cohen's were probably having a cow. Ryan attempts to reach for his cell phone which he sat on the bedside table but he can't do so without waking up Anna.

He'd have to wake her. Sighing he looks down at her and the completely peaceful expression on her face causes every possible thought of that happening to fly out the window. Ryan had never realized Anna was beautiful before, but watching her sleep he realizes that she is. _Don't even go down that road, Ryan._ He mentally scolds himself but the other side of his head asks, _why not? It's not like Seth's in love with her anymore, if he ever was. And you're not with Marissa or Theresa. So what's the big deal? If you like her, be with her. _Ryan feels ridiculous for even having this internal war but he can't control it, _how about because the Cohen's would freak. She's pregnant and there's already enough rumors going around about us. Besides she probably isn't thinking anything beyond friendship here._

Before Ryan can continue the battle in his head Anna jolts awake, "what time is it?"

"Three, I was just about to go," Ryan responds flustered.

"We feel asleep?" Anna asks.

Ryan nods, "I should get home, the Cohen's are going to kill me if they find out that I didn't come home."

Anna sits up quickly, pink spreading across her cheeks as she realizes the position she's been laying in, "I'm sorry. Apologize to them for me."

"Yeah," Ryan moves quickly off of the bed, "I'll talk to you later."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

* * *

"Ryan, where have you been? " Kirsten, Sandy and Seth are waiting for Ryan in the kitchen and Ryan winces at the tone in Kirsten's voice.

"Dude, I tried to cover for you," Seth begins.

"Seth, bed, now..." Kirsten orders.

"Okay, okay," Seth holds his hands up, "but if I can just say in Ryan's defense at least he doesn't have to worry about getting her pregnant."

"Goodnight Seth," Sandy adds.

"I feel asleep, it was nothing," Ryan states as soon as Seth has left the kitchen, but he can see the shadow of his adoptive brother just outside of the doorway. "The rumors got to be to much so I took her home, but her parents are still out of town so we hung out for awhile. We fell asleep watching TV."

Ryan watches both Kirsten and Sandy sigh, he can tell they almost wish it was worse because they don't know how to punish him for helping out a friend going through a hard time. "Ryan..." Sandy begins but trails.

"Just don't make a habit of it," Kirsten adds, "there are already enough rumors going around about the two of you without people seeing you leave her house at all hours of the night."

"Okay," Ryan nods and begins to walk away.

"Ryan," surprisingly it's Sandy who stops him front getting any further away.

"Yeah?" Ryan half turns to face them.

"I realize she's your friend and she's in some trouble, but she's a big girl and you have to make sure you concentrate on your life. Don't let her take up all your time."

"Sandy..."

"You want to help, I realize that, I'm just offering you some advice. Don't let it take over your life, because I know you and you want to help Anna..."

"It's not like I'm going to drop out of school to help her raise her baby or something Sandy," Ryan responds maybe a bit edgier then it should have come out.

"Why don't we all just get some sleep?" Kirsten suggests, "it's late and it's been a long day. If need be we can talk about it more in the morning."

* * *

"You spent the night at Anna's?" Summer and Marissa corner Ryan almost from the moment that he walks into the hallways.

Shooting a typical Ryan Atwood glance at Seth, "it's not like that."

"Okay in my defense they drug it out of me," Seth responds.

"That's such a lie Cohen," Summer responds.

"Thanks Summer," Seth glares.

"Thanks Seth," Ryan echoes continuing away from the group and toward his hallway.

"So what's going on with the two of you?" Marissa questions as all three trail behind him.

"Nothing's going on with us, we're friends," Ryan states twirling his combination lock.

"Yeah," Seth states, "but I'm friends with Anna and I didn't fall asleep at her house last night. Or any night since she's been back."

"We're just friends," Ryan responds harshly jerking out his books, "why is Anna and my relationship everyone's favorite topic lately?"

"Well, it's just that when she was here before you guys weren't exactly best friends and lately you've been spending every free moment with her," Marissa states.

"Well, I don't see any of you going out of you way to be friendly with her," Ryan retorts, "did you ever think that she may need friends? That the position she is in now is scary and to have at least one friend go out of their way for her might mean something to her since the rest of her friends in Newport seem to have abandoned her. She sits at home all alone all day and the only time I know of that you've talked to her was at the party last night." With his words Ryan slams his locker shut and walks away from the group.

"Ryan..." Summer begins but she falls silent as the three stare after Ryan.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Zach approaches the silent group and he receives no response as Marissa and Seth walk in opposite directions. "Was it something I did?" Zach questions.

Summer shakes her head sadly, "no, Ryan just called us out on what sucky friends we've been to Anna since she's been back."

"Bad friends?" Zach asks, "why does he say that? You guys seemed alright at the party yesterday."

"We just haven't gone out of our way to hang out with her and stuff," Summer hugs her books to her chest.

"That doesn't mean you've been bad friends," Zach supplies, "just busy."

"You don't understands," Summer shakes her head, "you don't know Anna. She'd go out of her way for anyone, it's just the type of person she is, and she's not the type to ask for anyone's help. We should be there for her but we haven't been." Summer sighs, "anyway, I have class. I'll see you later."

* * *

"Summer, Marissa, um what are you guys doing here?" Anna looks obviously shocked to see Marissa and Summer at her front door after school.

"We're kidnaping you," Marissa states.

"What?"

"Ryan pointed out to us that we've been sucky friends," Summer admits, "and we feel horrible for that. So we thought, what's the best way to make it up to Anna, one of our closest friends?"

"And we came up with the perfect conclusion. We're kidnaping you for the rest of the day, we're going to do some shopping, a new maternity shop just opened in the mall and we thought we'd check that out. Then head over to the melting pot and gets some dessert-y type foods, then manicures and pedicures and then rent tons of movies and head back to Sum's house for a movie night. What do you say?"

Anna grins, "how could I say no to that."

"Exactly our thought," Summer grins, "you can't."

* * *

"You know," Marissa states as she, Summer and Anna are rest comfortably in the massaging pedicure chairs, "we really are sorry for not being around."

Anna waves her freshly painted bright pink nails, "Ryan shouldn't have said that you have. I understand that you have been busy, the thought never occurred to me that you haven't been good friends. Ryan shouldn't have said that," she repeats with a roll of her eyes.

"Maybe not in the way he did," Summer replies, "but what he said wasn't a lie. But we're going to be here for you, for anything. We may not be the experts at being pregnant but if you just need someone to talk to we want you to know that you can come to us."

Anna nods, "I do, thanks."

Marissa bites her lower lip, "you know you can talk about the babies father, it's good to talk about things..."

"Marissa!" Summer stares at her oldest friend shocked that she'd been so up front about the question. "Maybe she is talking to someone about it."

"Actually, I'm not," Anna responds and then sighs, "maybe it is time to get it off my chest." The other two remain silent, not wanting to pressure Anna into saying anything she wasn't ready to say yet. But after a short pause she says, "I told him the day I found out. Not by choice though, he showed up at my house to surprise me when I hit the stage of being angry that I'd been stupid enough to get pregnant. Probably 45 minutes after I'd taken all five of the tests. I kind of lost it. There was a lot of yelling, and I'm not exactly sure but I think I threw a book at him."

The pedicurists seem as interested as Marissa and Summer in the story but this doesn't really seem to bother Anna as she continues. "So after that I didn't see Damien for like a week, my aunt and uncle had found the boxes and called my parents and it was a whirlwind of what I was going to do and I wasn't in school. By the time it was decided that I would be moving back to California when school let out, they're on year round school back there, it had been a week since I'd told Damien. After school on my first day back Damien asked me to come off campus with him after lunch, he said we needed to sit down and have a real conversation about it.

"So we did. Damien informed me that I needed to have an abortion and not tell anyone and we'd just go on like nothing had happened. He told me that he was graduating in June, then he'd be going to Yale and then law school to go into business with his father. Then he told me that nothing was going to get in the way of that. So when I told him that I had no intention of having an abortion he didn't even skip a beat when he told me that I'd be alone in this because he wouldn't be involved. That when the baby was born he'd be signing papers to terminate his parental rights, no matter what I decided to do."

"What an ass!" Summer exclaims.

Anna shrugs but everyone can see the tears in her eyes, "it was his choice, I can't change his mind about that."

"Anna," Marissa frowns and then both she and Summer get out of their chairs, half painted toes curled upward as they hug the blonde.

"Boys suck," Anna laughs when she's bombarded.

Once Summer and Marissa are in their chairs again Summer states, "if I ever seen the jerk I'll kick his ass!"

Anna nods, "okay, I think you could take him."


End file.
